Contradictory Statements Regarding the 'Expulsion of Students with AIDS from Schools'

Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour, referring to the 'influence of the Hojjatieh Society from past warnings,' emphasized in an interview with the newspaper Etemad the influence of members of the 'sect' of Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi in the pillars of the Islamic Republic, stating: 'Mesbah Yazdi has launched a movement in the country that supports all pillars of the system, including the IRGC, Basij, and government agencies, and he is harsh; anyone who holds a different view is considered an apostate and believed to be outside the religion and must be eliminated.' The newspaper Bahar reported, along with a photo of Ali Motahari on its front page, that this member of parliament emphasized the need to 'resolve the issues of 2009' during a speech at Tehran University, stating: 'It is time to address domestic politics.' According to this newspaper, Ali Motahari reiterated the necessity of lifting the house arrest of Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Zahra Rahnavard, saying: 'Our protest has always been why we deprived them of their social rights without defense,' and even if 'Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were placed under house arrest, I would protest because this practice is wrong, and those who remain silent will face consequences tomorrow.' Ali Motahari stated: 'The president bears a heavy responsibility in this regard because he is the executor of the constitution, and house arrest contradicts Articles 32 to 37 of the constitution.' The newspaper Aftab Yazd reported on Sunday about differing statements regarding the 'expulsion of students with AIDS from school.' The newspaper Shahrvand reported that 'the victims of the Sadra Company, who intended to buy higher model cars by handing over their old vehicles and paying millions, gathered again in front of the Transport and Fuel Headquarters on Saturday morning after three years.' Nearly all Sunday newspapers published reports or photos of the fourth session of Babak Zanjani's trial on their front pages. The newspaper Shargh, while publishing a photo from Babak Zanjani's trial, quoted this accused of national corruption as saying: 'Whoever you sold the oil to, take the money from him.' The newspaper Qanoon, with the headline 'Zanjani has gone all in,' wrote: 'The fourth session of the court hearing Babak Zanjani's charges was held while the oil billionaire emphasized having untold secrets and instead of defending himself, only threatened. In Saturday's session, there was no sign of the defense we are used to in major economic corruption cases,' and 'Babak Zanjani for the first time in the history of economic and financial corruption trials started the game differently. He stood in the defendant's seat as someone who has nothing to lose but his sweet life to defend himself against the charges,' because 'Babak Zanjani does not want to suffer the fate of Meh Afarin Amir Khosravi and Fazl Khodadad, etc.' The newspaper Etemad, with the headline 'The accused accuses,' wrote: 'Babak Zanjani is really well. So well that he can pass the ministers of the eleventh cabinet through the sword of his criticisms. So well that he can stand in the dock and firmly say that do not scare me with execution.' This newspaper wrote: 'The two-year outcome of his presence in prison is a 200-page defense that Zanjani carries,' and while 'the 237-page indictment of the oil accused repeatedly listed several ministers of the past government on its pages and mentioned their golden signatures in transactions with Zanjani,' Babak Zanjani, during his defense in court, stated that 'he considers the entire previous government and three ministers innocent and even speaks well of the former oil minister so that only this eleventh government is the one that faces Zanjani's wrath.' The newspaper Vatan-e Emruz, owned by Mehrdad Bazrpash, a representative close to the Steadfast Front, in its front page titled 'B. Z' against 'B. Z' wrote that Babak Zanjani stated in court: 'Bijan Zangeneh sold 5.8 billion euros of oil to someone and did not receive the money.' However, Nimatt Ahmad, a lawyer, wrote in a note in the newspaper Qanoon: 'In Mr. Zanjani's defense, we see that this person has learned professionally during his time in prison to separate the margin from the text and relies on the margins to leave the main issue unanswered.' The newspaper Arman quoted Babak Zanjani in court as saying: 'I will pay the oil money by Tuesday.' According to this newspaper, Babak Zanjani also stated: 'My two billion debt to the oil company is my pocket change.' The newspaper Farhikhtegan, while publishing Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri's criticism of extremist groups, quoted the former Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly as saying: 'Imam Hussein does not want thugs.' Mohtashami Pour's account of the influence of Hojjatieh sects and Mesbah's current in the IRGC and other government pillars Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour, in an interview with the newspaper Etemad, emphasized that 'the influence of the Hojjatieh Society has passed beyond warnings,' stating that the members of this society have crossed 'very prominent red lines and dealing with them has become very difficult, and only divine assistance can help and what Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] warned about in the past is now like fire under the ashes.' According to the newspaper Etemad, Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour, referring to what he described as Ayatollah Khomeini's opposition in the early years after the revolution to the use of members of the Hojjatieh Society, stated: 'These people, from that time, when they saw they could not hold essential positions in the country, decided to enter education, as simple teachers, including service, cultural, and administrative staff, through teachers, supervisors, and principals. Because they had both the degree and experience and some of their influential factors in education.' Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour also stated: 'Through these well-known individuals in education, they managed to bring many people into this field, especially during Ahmadinejad's eight-year term when a large volume was hired in education as teachers.' He emphasized that 'this warning is very serious, and they are looking for cadre-building, not just to perform a cultural job on children,' stating: 'The Hojjatieh Society has mostly educated members, and they select these from universities and gather bright and talented faces and bring them in, and they are familiar with new systems in the world, and their methods for physically and non-physically eliminating individuals are modern.' This member of the Assembly of Clerics, a group close to reformists, also mentioned the 'Mesbah Yazdi current' alongside the Hojjatieh Society, stating: 'Mesbah Yazdi has launched a movement in the country that supports all pillars of the system, including the IRGC, Basij, and government agencies, and he is harsh; anyone who holds a different view is considered an apostate and believed to be outside the religion and must be eliminated.' Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour emphasized that the Hojjatieh Society and the 'Mesbah Yazdi current' are two sides of the same coin, stating that they 'have a sectarian mindset' and 'consider themselves the absolute truth and others the absolute falsehood and believe they should be eliminated from the scene of the world, they do not even consider the right to live for their opponents.' The newspaper Etemad, however, quoted Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour as saying: 'A part is also another sect that is neither Hojjatieh nor the current of Mr. Mesbah, but these are illiterate or semi-illiterate individuals under the guise of sanctimonious figures or mourners who perform mourning and then start giving speeches in the middle of the mourning and then issue death sentences against individuals during their mourning, considering themselves the absolute truth and the rest as absolute falsehood, and these individuals have influence.' According to Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour, 'during the eight years that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in power, the ground for the influence within the pillars of the system for the Hojjatieh Society, Mr. Mesbah's current, sanctimonious figures, and mourners was prepared,' and 'they easily came in, even hired, widespread hiring at various levels of the country's agencies and had complete freedom and did whatever they wanted,' and now 'in the last two years, the government [of Hassan Rouhani] is afflicted with a sick apparatus that the Hojjatieh Society, Mr. Mesbah Yazdi's current, and the sanctimonious figures have infiltrated, and nothing can be done.' Ali Akbar Mohtashami Pour also stated: 'At one time, anyone who was not one of them was thrown out, as you saw the experienced professors of universities, the best scientific forces of this country were expelled from universities, and some were given scholarships. This was easy because they had free rein and everything was at their disposal, but now it is not like that; if the government wants to touch one of those pieces they have placed, what chaos will ensue, and they will say that the faithful forces are being removed from the scene.' Unofficial and contradictory statements regarding the 'expulsion of students with AIDS from schools' The newspaper Aftab Yazd reported on Sunday about differing statements regarding the 'expulsion of students with AIDS from school.' Sara Alaei, in a report for Aftab Yazd, referring to the statements made last Saturday by Mohammad Reza Seyed Qasemi, the CEO of the charity organization Payamavaran Hamyari, who reported on the 'expulsion of students with AIDS from schools,' wrote that this news is a 'bitter news' that 'undoubtedly reading it is a great shock for students with AIDS and their families.' This newspaper emphasized that 'the four-hour effort of Aftab Yazd's journalist to contact officials of the Ministry of Education to verify the accuracy of this news, despite the weak cooperation of the public relations of this ministry, led nowhere,' but 'this incident has been denied by the President of the Iranian AIDS Association.' The President of the Iranian AIDS Association told Aftab Yazd: 'The Ministry of Education has issued a circular stating that patients with AIDS should not be isolated in schools under any circumstances and should be treated like other students, meaning that no school in Iran has the right to expel students with AIDS.' Hamid Reza Shariati, in an interview with Aftab Yazd, described the statements of Mohammad Reza Seyed Qasemi, the director of the Payamavaran Hamyari charity, as 'hysteria' and stated: 'Such hysteria arises from a lack of understanding of issues related to AIDS patients, which are generally expressed by individuals or institutions that are not qualified to speak on this subject,' and 'sensational statements like those made by the CEO of the Payamavaran Hamyari charity are only to gain attention in society, which actually only harms those afflicted with this disease.' The President of the AIDS Association emphasized that the news of the expulsion of students with HIV or AIDS 'is not true,' stating that 'the Payamavaran Hamyari charity does not have the qualifications to comment on AIDS or provide statistics and such news.' Hamid Reza Shariati also stated: 'As far as I am in contact with patients and families of patients with AIDS, such an incident has not occurred, and the only case that comes to mind is from about 12 years ago, where in that incident, the issue of expelling a student with AIDS from school was not raised at all, but rather that student only experienced isolation in school, which the AIDS office of the Ministry of Health followed up on, and the Ministry of Education apologized for this behavior,' and even 'the Ministry of Education issued a circular after this incident stating that patients with AIDS should not be isolated in schools and should be treated like other students. This circular, which prohibits the isolation of students with AIDS, indicates that expelling them is also prohibited.' The newspaper Aftab Yazd also quoted the President of the Iranian AIDS Association as saying: 'In our teachings, we tell all AIDS patients that there is no need for them to disclose their HIV status at school or work because this disease is not transmitted through daily interactions in society, so there is no need to disclose their illness at school or work unless it involves sexual or medical communications.' Hamid Reza Shariati emphasized that 'the transmission of AIDS is not as easily as people think,' stating: 'HIV is transmitted as a result of risky behaviors such as sexual relations and blood transfusions, etc., and in normal and daily interactions in society, such as relationships between classmates or colleagues and friends, this virus is not transmitted at all, so there is no need for concern, and thus no necessity for isolating these patients from other members of society is felt.' The newspaper Aftab Yazd wrote: 'These days, the number of children with AIDS in Iran is increasing; children who have unwittingly contracted this incurable disease and, in addition to the pain of illness, also bear the crushing burden of societal stigma and social exclusion.' This newspaper emphasized that 'news related to the increase in the number of AIDS patients and deaths resulting from it on the one hand, and news from credible and non-credible sources about the families of AIDS patients in the country occasionally heard on the other hand, not only tightens the space for these patients' but also 'creates fear among other individuals and consequently facilitates the isolation of these patients in society.'